The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1952 Chevy 3100 - Rebuild Blog

Greetings!

I am starting my second restoration of my 1952 3100. There is a wealth of info and knowledge here, so I figured I'd join up and talk with y'all. Here's my long winded history....

My grandfather bought this 3 speed truck in 1958 from the local junkyard to replace his worn out model A Ford pickup. The original color was probably Armour Yellow. I can still see spots of it. The junk dealer sprayed it robin egg blue. The truck was used daily until 1970 when my grandfather bought a brand new truck. The 3100 was retired to farm only driving. As a kid, he'd take my sister and I out bouncing through the fields in it.

He gave me the truck in 1983. Money was tight for my family, so we had the local community college do most of the body work and a local guy paint it the maroon you see below. My father and I redid the bed in oak. My uncle helped us get it in driveable condition. I happily cruised it around our small Nebraska town for four years.

The summer before going to college, I thought I could hot rod the thing. I pulled the engine and set it down on the wood floor of our building. I rebuilt a SBC and slapped it in the truck with a floor shift 3 speed and 10 bolt rear. Later, I upgraded to a 4 speed. I never upgraded the brakes, suspension, or steering. As gas prices increased, I had to put the truck back in the barn for an extended stay. I got it back out when my daily driver died and I needed transportation to my first real job. I didn't want to buy a junker and figured it was a good excuse to get the truck out of the barn in Nebraska and down to KC. It's been running off and on since. The only smart thing I did as a teenager was to insist to my father to save the original drivetrain. I think we're going to go back to stock.

Stuart Malone

Yep I remember that sort of thing, too. Welcome aboard, Stuart- that's a great story & you're already a step ahead by knowing the history of the truck. I'm still a newbie on here, but yours is the first truck I can recall that is going back to the truck's original engine- after a SBC install. The original engines don't seem to stay around very often. That'll garner a few cheers on here I am sure.

Best of luck with your new "project"

Brad

Welcome Stuart, quite a story. It's cool when the old truck has a history in your own family. I'm a fan of keeping them stock, nice to see the six going back in. Not only will your kids learn a lot, you will too. If you run stuck, you know where to come to now. Don't be shy and good luck.

Leo

Stuart, welcome to the STovbolt. That is a nice truck you have and will bring many more years of service. These old trucks just won't die if we give them the TLC they deserve.
Let us know when/how we can help. Great story.

Thank you for all the kind replies!

I have started an online journal to document getting my truck back to original. Here's the address:

kcstovebolt.wordpress.com

Stu,

Besides getting your Gallery story finished (hopefully next week), I will add your resto journal in the new section in Links. Stovebolter Blogs

I didn't get very far with those ... the Project are listed in the Tech Tip section but most of those our very old. This blog stuff is the way to go.

Peg

I didn't get a picture, but I started bagging and tagging bolts, nuts, and small items. I like to think I have a steel trap memory for re-assembly, but figured I better do it anyway. As I was bagging up the seven or so sets of small parts laying around, there were a couple of sets I had to figure out where they came from (bell housing mounting bolts, valve cover nuts, washers, grommets). I started just in the nick of time!

I'm going with pint size freezer bags and index cards. Threw the parts in the bags grimy. I'll try to get the kids to clean them before reassembly.

Hello Stuart,

Solid looking '52. Bet you're glad you kept it. They're getting harder to find in that shape.

Looking forward to following the build.

John